Chimaera

Chimaera was a fire-breathing monster that lived in the mountains around Lycia. Chimaera was another monstrous offspring of Typhon and Echidna. Chimaera had the head and body of a lion, the legs of a goat, and had a snake instead of a tail. Some images of the Chimaera showed that it had the head of a goat as well as that of a lion.

Iobates, king of Lycia, received a message from his son-in-law, King Proëtus (Proetus) of Tiryns, to kill Bellerophon, an exiled Corinthian prince. The gods frowned upon a host who killed a guest, so Iobates decided to send Bellerophon to his death, asking the hero to kill the monster Chimaera for him.

Chimaera
Bronze statue, 4th century BC
Museo Archeologico, Florence

To avoid the fire from Chimaera, Bellerophon won and tamed Pegasus, the winged steed. Bellerophon was able to kill Chimaera with his bow and arrows at a safe distance from the monster.

See Bellerophon about his other adventures.